New project

Thank you for the supportive comments. "Breaking up is hard to do," but maybe it's for the better. That doesn't seem to make it any easier. For better or for worse, he's still my best friend, and sometimes that makes it a little easier. At least I know we're both going through this, and somehow sharing the pain makes it hurt a little less.

I didn't really want to put the knitting down, but I did have an idea of something new to start, and Brenda was right that it needed the right yarn. I already had it though - one of the wool-tencel yarns I bought at Minds Eye Yarns a while back.

I often get breakfast or a sandwich at a place called Mulligans, across the street from the Fleet Center. The woman who makes me french toast some mornings and usually works the register at lunchtime thinks my name is Gretchen. (If someone forgets my name, this is a common one for them to come up with.) I could have tried to correct her, but at some point I decided to just let it go. The hardest part is remembering to answer to Gretchen when she wants to know whether I want one syrup or two. She's very nice and when I'm knitting while waiting, she often wants to know what I'm making for her.

This place is tiny. There are no tables, there's no room to sit at all, and the staff barely fits behind the counter. In the winter, the door opens all the time and she's cold at the register next to the door, so I decided that she needs armwarmers.

I did a little swatching on Friday and finally chose the right size needles and cast on on Saturday evening. I'd been inspired by Kim Salazar's doodle cable from last week and decided to try it out. I also decided to turn it upside down. It doesn't show up very well normally, but if you stretch it out, it's quite nice. I think in a good, plain wool, it would stand out well. But since it's hard to see in this project, I decided to just use it as an accent near the base and then use a simple cable up the rest. By the end of Sunday night I'd made it up to the wrist.

Now I need a motif to put on the back of the hand. I have a couple ideas from cables in Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I got out the Winter issue of Interweave Knits for the article on gussets and I'm excited to get started. However, I wasn't ready to move along when it was time for the staff meeting at work today, so I put the first one on a scrap of Svale and cast on for the second one so that I'd be able to knit something (and I made reasonable progress, too). I hung out with a knitting friend this evening and made it a little past the midpoint of the arm. So by the end of tomorrow I'll have to get moving on the strategy for finishing the hands. Maybe I can take them over sometime this week and offer them after requesting a late breakfast or lunch when the shop is slow.

It's felt good to have a new thing, something for someone else. But I'm also glad that it was something quick because my own projects are starting to call back to me.

New Toys

While perusing the Barbara Walker book at the LYS this afternoon, I decided I should also peruse the Anne. I bought one skein a while ago during my time of Koigu fixation and bought one off a friend a while ago, and today I picked up two more - almost opposites.

Don't know what I'm going to do with it (it still seems way too nice for socks), but I'll come up with something. They both made me happy, so it was good.

And finally, on Friday a friend from work went with me to a new store in Boston that makes custom purses. It's shockingly girly, but I bought two. One (see my fabrics) was specifically chosen to fit one smallish knitting project and the other (its fabrics) is to be more of a regular purse. I'll certainly get them back before I leave Boston, and it would be fun to get them before I go home the first few days in July. Sew like the wind, Lill bag makers!